On top of Mt. Fuji.
The entire Red-Haired Pirates were gathered, all of them focused on the battle between Kaido and Luffy.
"This doesn't make sense..." Shanks said in a low voice, staring hard at Luffy, muttering to himself.
"Boss, Kaido said that's not Luffy. What does he mean? Could it be that Luffy failed when awakening his fruit?" Lucky Roo asked, looking totally confused.
The others looked just as lost, completely in the dark.
They could feel it too—something about Luffy felt totally off. His current form looked strange, and the way he fought looked more like a joke than a battle.
Sure, Luffy had always been a little silly in fights, but never this ridiculous.
Could this really not be the real Luffy?
Shanks shook his head. "I can't say for sure right now\... but that's definitely not the same Luffy. Or maybe it's better to say—he's being affected by the Devil Fruit itself."
"So... Luffy still can't fully control Nika's power?" Beckman said quietly.
Shanks stayed silent, because he was thinking the exact same thing. Otherwise, how could an awakened Nika fail to turn Kaido's weapon into rubber?
After all, that's a Devil Fruit with a god's name.
"Boss, look—Luffy's face!" Suddenly, Yasopp shouted. They all turned to see Luffy's face aging rapidly, like his life force was being drained.
"This is bad!" Shanks had barely spoken when he shot forward like lightning.
*Clang!*
Griffon, Shanks' sword, blocked Kaido's club just in time, standing firm like an unbreakable shield in front of Luffy.
"Red-Hair!"
"So you guys came to my turf too!"
"Thunder Bagua!" As soon as Kaido saw Shanks appear, he was furious. His spiked club suddenly changed direction and slammed toward Shanks like a mountain falling from the sky!
*Boom!*
A loud explosion followed, and a giant circular vacuum nearly 100 meters wide opened up between Kaido and Shanks!
Meanwhile, on the other side, Beckman had already rescued the rapidly aging Luffy.
"I'm so hungry…" The now old-looking Luffy groaned as he looked at Beckman.
Seeing this, Lucky Roux suddenly pulled out a huge pile of food from who-knows-where and quickly handed it all to Luffy.
The rest of the Red-Haired Pirates looked at each other, surprised. They realized Luffy had returned to his normal form.
But it had cost him a huge chunk of his life force.
The moment he saw the food, Luffy began shoving the meat into his mouth like crazy. Seeing this, Lucky Roux brought out even more meat.
...
Far from them, Kaido and Shanks stared each other down from a distance, both with serious looks. These were opponents on equal footing.
"Kaido, let me take Luffy with me. He can't die here." Shanks seemed to want to settle things through words.
Because if he really started fighting Kaido, it wouldn't end quickly. And right now, time was the one thing they didn't have.
"Orahahahaha~"
"Red-Hair!"
"Are you kidding me? If I just let you walk off with them, what does that say about me?!" Kaido roared in anger.
At that moment, the Flying Six and the elite fighters of the Beasts Pirates all showed up, led by one of the top three All-Stars — .
"It's really the Red-Haired Pirates!" was shocked the moment he saw them.
No one in the Beasts Pirates had even noticed their arrival. Something must've gone wrong at the harbor!
"Kaido!"
"I'm willing to give up some territory in the New World for this," Shanks said seriously.
Kaido stared at him, clearly sensing something was off. They were equals.
Even if Shanks wanted to save that group, giving up his own territory — especially as one of the Four Emperors — would hurt his reputation.
Normally, they would've fought first, and no matter the outcome, Shanks wouldn't be acting like this.
Suddenly—
Kaido remembered that strange form the Straw Hat kid had just taken. That instantly made him alert.
"Looks like you know who that guy was. That kind of Haki was crazy strong. Stronger than Rocks. Who *is* he?" Kaido stared at Shanks, watching every flicker of his expression.
Shanks looked back at Kaido, thinking about whether to tell him the truth.
Beckman slowly walked up behind Shanks. After glancing at Kaido, he looked seriously at Shanks. "Tell him. We don't have time to drag this out."
Shanks made up his mind. "Kaido, do you know about Joy Boy? The way Luffy fought just now — that was the same power Joy Boy once used."
"Orahahahaha!"
"Red-Hair!"
"You trying to tell me that kid was Joy Boy?" Kaido laughed mockingly, but inside, he was shaken.
"His power might decide the future of the seas. That's why I won't let you kill Luffy. You've felt it too, haven't you? The whole sea is heading into a strange state," Shanks said in a low, serious voice.
"Kaido." walked up next to him and pulled out a sheet of paper from who-knows-where and handed it to Kaido.
It listed the current state of the seas.
Including the Marines pulling out of the New World.
Normally, Kaido wouldn't care about what was going on out there — he just wanted to drink, go wild, and fight.
After reading it, Kaido looked at Shanks with a blank expression.
"Red-Hair."
"You can leave. But I'm keeping that territory you promised." Kaido's voice was full of Haki. Territory was always a good thing — he didn't care how chaotic the world got.
"Deal's done," Shanks said in a low voice.
Then he looked at Beckman. They both nodded and slowly backed away, leaving the scene with Luffy and the others.
"Big Bro Kaido, what about Yamato?" asked, glancing at the unconscious Yamato lying nearby.
Kaido was silent for a moment, then said coldly, "Take her back to Onigashima. Whatever she wants to do after that is up to her. I'm done caring about that ungrateful kid."
"Uh… (⊙o⊙)…"
"Okay, Big Bro Kaido." wiped the sweat off his face, then quickly ran toward Yamato to treat her injuries.
"Joy Boy…"
"To think someone like that really existed… ooh-roh-roh-roh-roh\~\~\~" Kaido laughed loudly. He was finding things more and more interesting.
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